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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to be talking about an amazing company called Bloominous. What Bloominous does is provide you with easy DIY floral arrangementsfor weddings, other events, or as home decor. With the stress of a wedding, one of the last things you want to do is spend an arm and a leg on floral arrangements. Here are some of the perks to using Bloominous.

- You will save yourself alot of money!

With Bloominous, you will be able to save anywhere from 30-50% off of your original budget. When I was planning my wedding, I was not in the mood to spend alot of money on flowers that die in just a few days. With Bloominous, centerpieces for tables run about $50, but some are more depending on the style of it. The pieces are absolutely stunning!

- It's an easy DIY project!

Most DIY floral services don't come made to order, but with Bloominous, they come to you cut-to-order, prepped and trimmed saving you alot of time, and also precious money! Each of the kits come with step-by-step instructions and pictures which makes them easy to assemble. It can take you between 10 and 20 minutes per piece you're putting together and you also get flower care tips and design ideas!

- You get quality, professional design!

The florists that work with Bloominous have 10+ years of experience in event and floral design. They help you design the whole look for your inspiration taking alot of stress out of the mix. Everything is delivered right to you, and you will get all your arrangements 2-3 days before the big event, guaranteed.

This is such a great company for easy DIY floral arrangements. They don't just have to be for weddings either. If you're having a birthday party, a simple get together, or even just to have a pretty arrangement on your coffee table, this is a fun, simple way to put together the arrangement you like. Their website has so much information on it, and you can see all the different collections they have. There is even a build-your-own section on the site where you can let them know your theme, colors, etc. and they will work with you on a custom design. I know if I were still in the process of planning my wedding, I would most definitely look to Bloominous for floral arrangements. I know I've mentioned before but my whole wedding (aside from renting a tent/tables/chairs) was DIY. From the arch we had, to signs in the yard, our table runners and even picking our own flowers, we did it ourselves, along with family helping out. While it was stressful, it was such an amazing day in the end. If you are stressed about flowers and don't have a high budget, definitely look into Bloominous. Make sure to check out all their social media as well!http://www.facebook.com/bloominous

Monday, February 23, 2015

*Disclosure* I was sent this product for review purposes. All opinions are that of my husband's and he is definitely an honest person!

Hey guys! Today I have a different kind of review, and it's the Smooth Viking Beard Conditioner. Now, I obviously don't have a beard (that would be kinda scary!), but my loving husband has one. I have to say also, we got married in September 2013 and since then, he has trimmed and shaped up his beard maybe 3 times. I love him dearly, but that thing can get so unruly and scratchy. He also complains of his skin being itchy and he'll scratch at it til it hurts and is raw. This product came at the perfect time!

Here is a description of the product, taken from Amazon:

Unconditioned Beards can be hard and brittle. Made with Shea Butter, Mango Butter, Sweet Almond Oil, Argan Oil, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Jojoba, Beeswax and Pure Essential Oil, our Beard Conditioner will help keep your beard moisturized and healthy as it grows.Get rid of your weak brittle beard with Smooth Viking's Beard Conditioner, designed to not only provide hold, but also strengthen from root to tip. We made sure to formulate Smooth Viking Beard Conditioner with 100% Natural ingredients to ensure optimal beard health, growth, and care.Tired of having an itchy beard? Smooth Viking Beard Conditioner nourishes the skin and helps to stop itching associated with beard growth, our conditioner will help repair dry hair and help with new beard growth.Smooth Viking beard Conditioner is easy to use and doesn't create a mess, all it takes is a small amount of conditioning balm which can easily be rubbed between your fingers and spread into your beard.

The directions on how to use this product is shown above, and the ingredients are on the front of this tin. It says to take a pea sized amount to rub into the beard and use more from there if needed. My husband definitely needs more than a pea sized amount. Once he rubs it between his fingers, he just massages it into his beard for a good 30 seconds. Then he takes his hair brush (yes, he has to brush his beard all the time!) and brushes it through evenly.

The product looks and feels waxy in the jar and when you rub it between your fingers, it feels very smooth. The scent is also pleasant, very clean and masculine. We were also very kindly sent their Beard Balm and their Beard Oil. The balm kind of reminds me of the conditioner but to me it doesn't feel as nice. Now the oil is amazing! My husband absolutely loves that stuff in conjunction with the conditioner. He will just use a few drops of that, rub it into his beard, then use the conditioner afterwards. When he keeps up the routine of caring for his beard, it definitely looks and feels better. He also hasn't complained much of his dry skin either, so that's a plus!

Here is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding. I love how his beard is here because it's just alot neater and way easier for him to maintain. He's quite attached to his beard so I won't force him to chop it off, but I do have him look at the wedding pictures and remind him how much easier his beard was to maintain. Oh well, I guess I'm stuck with a mountain man ;)If it were my husband writing this review, all he would say is he liked it and give no other details. I tried getting details from him, but he's stubborn. All I can say is I for sure notice a difference in the look and feel of his beard, and his skin underneath looks alot better as well. On Amazon the Conditioner costs $16.95, the Balm costs $15.95, and the Oil costs $16.95. If you have a boyfriend/husband that's got a beard that needs a little TLC, I honestly do recommend these products, especially the Conditioner and Oil. They really have made a world of difference for him.

Would you get something like this for your boyfriend/husband? What do you think of this product?

Our new and innovative mix of the perfect ingredients will give you Dramatically Radiant & Youthful Eyes by: • Eliminating Dark circles, Puffiness, Dryness and Sagging around the eyes.
• Increasing elasticity and plumps the skin around eyes.
• Providing a youthful texture around the eyes.
• Moisturizing the delicate eye area to prevent premature aging.
• Useful for the entire face. Can be applied all over the face for an enhanced glow and a more radiant looking face.

The bottle this product comes in has a pump which I definitely appreciate. I don't mind the pots where you have to stick your fingers in, but a pump is just more convenient and a little more sanitary. It's got a very milky look to it and it's definitely a gel formula but it feels so silky and hydrating going on. I pat this on my eyes and there is no dragging or stickiness to the gel. It's also incredibly affordable on Amazon for only $16.89! Now it's time for some pictures.

This picture was taken the first day I started using it. You can tell I have darkness under my eyes and I just look tired. (That's pretty normal though!)

This picture was taken 7 days later. I don't see a huge difference here with the darkness, but I do see a couple pigmentation spots that look a bit lighter.

This picture was taken today (February 17th). I wanted to take a picture last week, but if you read my last post, the flu knocked me out for basically the whole week, so I wasn't taking care of my skin like I normally do. I started my routine back up this past Saturday and this picture compared to the first one looks alot different to me! I still see some darkness, but the spots are nearly gone and I do look more awake.

Having this product for nearly a month and using it for about 3 weeks (that's with me having the flu), I am extremely impressed with the Radha Beauty Eye Gel. I love how it feels and I can tell using it morning and night that it's making a positive difference in my skin. Here is a link to their website if you want to learn more about this and their other products!

Friday, February 13, 2015

Hey everyone! I know it's been a week since I posted, and I'm so sorry for that! I have the flu and it's really been kicking my butt. Today I'm finally feeling a little better, and I just got my Ipsy bag in the mail so I thought I'd show you what I got! I have to say, I was really excited for this months bag, but one of the products exploded damaging the bag. Luckily I can save the other products, but I did contact IpsyCare already, so hopefully they send out a replacement.

I think the design of the bag is actually pretty cute this month! Pink is my favorite color, and I love it paired with the grey. The back of the bag is solid pink, and that is what got damaged from the exploded product, which you'll see in a moment!

The first product is the Cargo Cosmetics Mini Lip Gloss and I got the shade Anguilla, which is a pretty dusty pink color. Unfortunately I can't smell it right now because I'm so congested, but I like the color so I'll give it a try.

Next up we have the Pencil Me In Cosmetics Natural Eyeliner Pencil in the color Amethyst. The lid has a built in sharpener which I'm not too fond of, but I do love purple. I'm hoping this is a nice pencil and doesn't drag on my lids.

We have the ModelCo BLUSH Cheek Powder in the shade Peach Bellini. I kinda wish I got the other color they sent out called Cosmopolitan since that one is a pink. I can still work with this though so I won't complain too much.

This Eva NYC Up All Night Volumizing Spray is the bugger that exploded and damaged the bag. Like I said above, I did contact IpsyCare, and they're usually pretty good when something like this happens. I just hope they don't send out another one of these. I'm not big into hair products.

The last product we have is the Hey Honey Take it Off! Exfoliating Honey Peel Off Mask. I'm kinda obsessed with masks and once I start to feel better, I'm gonna have to make up for not taking care of my skin this whole week. Honestly, it took all my strength to even get out of bed to brush my teeth, so I haven't done anything with my skin. Sad, I know. I'm paying the price now, but I'm hoping it bounces back quick!

That's what I got! If I hadn't had the exploding product in my bag, I would've been over the moon with everything. I probably would've tried the hair product too just to see if I liked it. It's alright though, I know things will be taken care of! If you want to sign up for Ipsy, you can click my referral link here to do so! It's only $10 a month, plus shipping for some, and you get 4-5 deluxe size samples in a makeup bag.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Hey guys! So in January I put myself on a little spending ban, but it was mainly just a cut back on the spending really. I didn't buy nearly as much as I normally would in a month, which I'm very happy with. I did end up buying a little something from Sephora and Ulta last month and I wanted to show you my little haul!

Around the first or second week of January, Sephora had double points on skincare purchases. Originally I had way more items in my shopping cart, but I behaved and only purchased the Bliss Fabulous Makeup Melt Gel-to-Oil Cleanser. This was a brand spanking new product when I bought it, so I took a chance with it. I then saw Marlena, aka MakeupGeek, on YouTube rave about this in I think her Hot New Products video for January. I still have yet to try this as I haven't really worn alot of makeup lately, but I can't wait to put it to the test. I had so many points saved up, and when I saw the Boscia Black Magic kit as a 500 point perk, I snagged it up right away. I have tried some Boscia products in the past, but never tried any of their "black" products. I've already tried the Luminizing Black Mask in this kit, and holy crap is that stuff amazing! It's one of those peel-off masks, which I normally don't care for, but this stuff is incredible! I couldn't believe all the dead skin and nastiness that was on the mask after I peeled it off. I'm tempted to try out some of their other peel-off masks now. Also, when you spent $25 there was a coupon code to get a skincare sampler bag that contains 12 different samples from brands like Fresh, Bliss, Glamglow, Origins, Philosophy and more. I kinda have an obsession with samples, so I'm pretty excited to dig into these. There is a sample of the Glamglow Supermud Mask, which I can't wait to try. Reading about it reminds me of the Origins Charcoal Mask that I love so dearly, so I definitely want to see if this compares to that.

Now for the little bit I got from Ulta. They sent out 20% coupons that were good on everything except for just a few items, but I was happy that the coupon worked on most of the high-end products. I've been really wanting to get my hands on the Tarte Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Palette since it came out. I didn't really need another palette, so I waited and waited, and once I got that 20% off coupon in the mail, I figured it was time to treat myself. This is at Sephora as well, but I wanted to use the coupon I had while it was good! I haven't tried it yet, but the colors are gorgeous and I keep reading good reviews on it. I do want to review it myself once I try it out a few times.I also decided to try out the EOS lip balm in the Coconut Milk scent. I honestly don't really like the regular EOS lip balms all that much, but Emily Noel on YouTube really likes this particular one, so I figured I'd give it a try. I also got an EOS hand cream for my mother-in-law because she was with me and said she needed one for her purse. I think she got the Cucumber scent, but I don't know what her opinion of it is yet.

That's everything I got! I'm definitely trying to make an effort in not spending as much money in a month that I normally do on beauty products, and so far I'm doing good! I still have a Sephora giftcard that my husband got me for Christmas though... Is there anything you've bought recently that you're enjoying?

Also, remember my Borghese giveaway and my blog sale! I just updated it with new products :)

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Hi everyone! It's time for me to share what I used up in the first month of the year. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with everything I used up, and I'm going to be trying really hard to make a dent in my beauty collection for 2015. Lets see what I've used up!

The first product I used up is the Bath & Body Works Moisturizing Hand Soap in the Fresh Picked Strawberries scent. I'm more of a fan of their hand soaps with the little scrubby bits in them and this one didn't have those. I didn't really care for this hand soap because it smelled a bit perfume-y to me and my husband didn't really like it either. Glad to see it gone!I then used up the ZenWise Labs Hair Growth Vitamins. I was sent his product from BrandBacker to try and I did a review of it here. I'm still sticking to my original thoughts on this, and that is it did help with growing my hair, but not with the thickness or new growth. My roots are showing like crazy now, so if you just want your hair to grow out faster, this product will help with that, but it won't help with making it thicker. I used up a Degree Expert Protection Deodorant in the scent Linen Dry. I got this at Big Lots and it was pretty cheap, probably around $1 or $2. I liked how it smelled and this is supposed to release scent when it detects motion, and I did notice as I moved around I could smell it, which didn't bother me at all.

I used up quite a bit of skincare, so woohoo on that! The first product is the Peter Thomas Roth Aloe Tonic Mist. This toner is alcohol free and fragrance free, so it reminded me of my beloved Aloe Calming Toner from The Body Shop.This stuff is alot more expensive, but it worked the same at TBS toner, so I'll keep repurchasing that one for quite a while. I used up a little baby container of the Josie Maran Argan Oil. I used this over moisturizer if I needed extra hydration and I also started using one drop in my foundation/bb cream. I got that idea from Wayne Goss on YouTube and that changed my life honestly. I don't think I'll do that trick in the Summer, but in the Winter it's great. It helps my foundation go on better and it makes my skin look flawless. I also used up another baby container of the Juice Beauty Oil-Free Moisturizer. I remember I took this little tube with me on my honeymoon over a year ago and just wanted to finish it up since it still had about 4 days of use left. It smelled and looked fine though, so no worries about that!I finally ran out of the little tube of the GlamGlow Thirstymud Hydrating Treatment mask. I did a review on this here, and I have to say, this is a Holy Grail product for me now! I can't not use it after I use a clay mask that's drying. I have a full size of this and will continue to repurchase despite it being so darn expensive. It makes my skin feel just amazingly soft and supple. I used up The Body Shop Aloe Protective Serum, and I mixed this into moisturizer in the morning to add some extra hydration to my skin. I still love this product as it calms my skin but gives me the little boost I need this Winter. I was happy to finally finish up the Philosophy Help Me Retinol Night Treatment. I will say, I think it did help my skin a little bit, but this stuff smells so strange! It's not like it was too old to use strange, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was a bit drying too so I had to follow up with an extra hydrating moisturizer. I used up my morning time moisturizer from The Body Shop, the Tea Tree Sin Clearing Lotion. I absolutely love this stuff for my oily, acne-prone skin, but in the Winter it's really drying, so I used the Aloe Serum above mixed in and that helped out alot. This gel type moisturizer is definitely a Summer time moisturizer.

Now for a bit of randomness. I was so excited to finally use up the Massive tub of The Body Shop Shea Body Butter. I had been using this since last Winter and probably around the second week of January it was gone. I don't really use body butters in the Summer as I'm not as dry. Once in a while I will, but I usually stick to light lotions then. These body butters are no joke though, they hydrate your skin like crazy and this one smells so clean and fresh. The Almay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads were pretty awesome. I used one for each eye at night when I removed my eye makeup and I had no problems taking off mascara or dark eyeshadows. Occasionally these did sting my eyes a little bit, but it wasn't terrible and I always washed my face thoroughly after removing makeup. I got the Figs & Rouge Hand Cream in the scent Rose Berry in an Ipsy bag, and I loved how this stuff smelled. It had way more berry than rose which I'm fine with, but I have to be honest, this isn't hydrating at all for me. I think it actually made my hands drier. I still used this when I was at work just so I had something, but most days when I got home, I had to put on a thicker hand cream to help my hands feel better. The Urban Decay B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray came in a 500 point perk from Sephora. I think this is the most gimmicky product. It doesn't do anything special for my skin and acts no different than other makeup sprays. I will never buy a full size of this.I have two mascaras here, the Pop Beauty Smoky Lash Kapow!!!, and the Bobbi Brown Everything mascara. The Pop one was just dried out so I couldn't use it, but the Bobbi Brown one was fantastic! It made my lashes look amazing, but the only downside is it smudged on me. If it didn't smudge, it would be perfect in every way. The final product I used up is the Tarte Clean Slate Creaseless Eye Primer. This is a white liquid-y primer that was just okay for me. It didn't really make my shadows last any longer and I still got creasing by the end of the day. There is still nothing that compares to the original UD Primer Potion for me. What did you use up in January?

Remember I have my Borghese giveaway going on until the beginning of March, so there's plenty of time to enter! Also, I have my blog sale as well :)

Monday, February 2, 2015

Hey guys! It's the first favorites post of the new year and to be honest, I either didn't wear much makeup or when I did, it was usually something different everytime. There were a few products that stood out to me, so lets see what I loved in January!

My first favorite is the Origins A Perfect World SPF 25 Age-Defense Moisturizer with White Tea. I recently ran out of the moisturizer I use in the mornings, went through my stash of skincare, saw this, and put it in my bathroom cabinet. I've absolutely been loving how this makes my skin feel. Since we're in the middle of Winter, my skin is drier than the desert, so I've been needing help. This moisturizer has helped to plump up my skin and make it feel really soft and hydrated. I really love the smell of it too. It's kinda herbally, but not over the top. I love that it has SPF so I don't need an extra one over the top. Great stuff here!Next up, I've really been enjoying the BeautyBlender liquid BlenderCleanser to clean my BeautyBlenders and the Real Techniques Sponge. This actually does a great job at cleaning those sponges, but I do clean them after every use. I have heard reviews that this isn't that great, but I have a feeling people wait too long to clean them, so they don't get as clean. This smells like lavender too, so it's nice and relaxing. I don't mind cleaning my blending sponges/makeup brushes anyway, but I think this product makes it more fun.Essence is a brand that I haven't really dipped my toes into, and I've had this Silky Touch Blush in the shade 10 Adorable for quite a while. I had never used this blush until January and I used it pretty much every single time I wore makeup. It definitely has a silky feel to it, and it's such a pretty shade of pink for my fair skin. I don't remember how much this was, but I got it at Ulta and I *think* it may have only been about $3. Not too bad for a pretty blush that blends well like higher priced blushes!My last two favorites are the Bite Beauty Lipglosses in the shades Two and Four. I got these in the Rose Deconstructed lipgloss set quite a while ago, and I gotta say, these glosses are just awesome! They are a bit on the sticky side, but it's not bad at all. The shades are all gorgeous, but these were the two I reached for most. I have the urge to buy full sizes of their glosses, but I can't really justify buying any right now since I have so many. What were some of your favorites from January?Also, take a look at my blog sale and if you live in the US, remember to enter my Borghese giveaway!